A Way with Words

Erebus was laying on the grass, a few red wildflowers scattered all around him while I tended to the fire only a few feet away.

I had been setting up a small bonfire the closest I could get to the forest's border, and Erebus would lie down on the grass close by, leaning on his elbows while listening to me talk about my life and random silly things that happened in my village.

We'd been doing this routine for a couple weeks now. It started slowly, I would only stop for a quick chat at first, then I wanted to be more comfortable and arranged a dry log so I could sit while we talked some more, soon there was a bonfire I had to arrange to give some light to our meetings and this is how things ended, like we were old friends chatting up by the bonfire, only one of us couldn't get past the forest's boundaries and the other trying to get as close as safety would allow.

I usually did most of the talking, and he did most of the listening. He asked questions occasionally but didn't like receiving them as much. He didn't get any better with the teasing, though, even after a few more lessons I attempted to give. But I have learned a few things about him in our many talks by the edge of the forest, like how dark his sense of humor could be sometimes and how he had an unsettling edge to his tone when he talked about things he didn't like.

I learned that he was the most passionate when he talked about the places he enjoyed the most in the forest. He knew every nook and cranny in Redwood and seemed to have learned to love the place he was imprisoned in, almost to the point of nearly calling it home.

Tonight the sky had been capturing his interest far more than any incredible tale I could spin on him. He was laying with his arms up and head nested over his hands, legs crossed lazily at the ankles, barefoot as usual. He only wore pants now, always dismissing shirts or his long mantle, as the weather became warmer and warmer with each passing night.

And with each passing night, he seemed more alluring, as if he was somehow tweaking and adjusting parts of himself and doing small subtle changes that were gradually resulting in the most stunning, beautiful sight to behold.

It was hard not to stare at his half-naked form laying so alluringly on the grass, only a few feet away from me. But I still tried. I tried every night, and every night I failed miserably. Tonight I had been staring for an embarrassing amount of time, I had to confess.

He seemed enthralled by the sky and paid me no heed, though. I couldn't tell if he was lost in troubled thoughts or if he was merely observing the sky absent-mindedly. Feeling a smidge of jealousy, since I was so used to his attention on me, I decided to leave the bonfire and join him in his stargazing.

I laid down a few feet away from him on the grass, after making sure the forest's shadow limit was at a safe distance between us, and then I took one quick peek at him before turning to watch the night sky like he had been doing so far.

"Why are you staring at the sky so intensely like that?" I asked, trying to sound curious instead of jealous. "Are you looking for signs there? Find a way to predict the future in the stars, maybe?"

He remained staring up at the sky. "No, I am not looking for glimpses of the future in the sky." He sounded amused by the nature of my question, I could almost hear a chuckle trying to escape his lips as he answered me. "I wouldn't be able to find them up there, though. To me, they mostly hide down here, deep inside the shadow's hearts. But they are fleeting and ephemeral things, like ghosts of scurrying little spiders, always fading away before your eyes can pin them down. Tricky things to catch, they are… " He mused and then turned to me, a curious expression playing on his pale face. "Do you wish to know the future? Is that why you ask?"

That possibility was never presented to me before, so the desire itself hadn't even had the chance to grow in my mind, but now that he was asking, curiosity suddenly sparked timidly inside. "Would you be able to, if I asked you to?" I said.

He seemed to ponder on that for a second, before replying. "I suppose I could. It would come with a price and it is often more costly than what it is worth." He responded with caution. "That is not the reason I would advise against it, though. Visions of the future are known to poison men's hearts and have a vicious grip on their minds. It is a high risk to take for such a shifting, flimsy thing."

Curiosity properly snuffed out, I flicked the thought out of my head, like I would flick a tiny spider away from me. "Never mind, then. Seems too much trouble for a questionable prize. I was only asking because I was wondering what you were doing here, so focused and intent, gazing up at the sky. You've been awfully quiet… even for your usual quiet self."

He turned his face back to the sky and closed his eyes, inhaling quietly before responding. "I am bathing in starlight." He said and for a brief moment, his skin glowed, enveloping him with a faint luminescent halo. "I feel the need to do that from time to time." He added.

"Why? Is this how you get your magic?" I asked, getting curious all over again. "You take it from the light of stars? I thought your powers came from darkness, not the light."

He chuckled properly and out loud this time. "It comes from both. The dark can only be where there is light, for light shapes it and gives it form. And light shines more brightly when surrounded by the dark. Where light is the strongest, so is the dark by its side. One feed from the other. And I feed from both." he told me, struggling to explain in a way I could understand. "Sunbathing is a bit extreme for me, though. It is burning and scorching instead of replenishing. I prefer the shimmering light of stars at night, it is gentler and more soothing to my complexion."

"Makes sense," I said, nodding. "It shows, you know. On you."

He turned his face to me again, an inquisitive eyebrow raised, not quite getting what I meant by that.

"That's why you have the light of stars glowing in your eyes and the dark hiding in your smile. You have a bit of both in you. It shows." I explained.

I had been so busy looking for hidden parts of his true self or for clues that could tell me of his secrets that I hadn't seen what was right in front of me.

"I didn't think something made of darkness could have some light inside too. But now that I think about it, it couldn't be more obvious." I realized with a laugh. "I still find you hard to understand, though. You're like a shadow behind a candlelight, flickering and changing all the time. When I think I have you pegged, you turn into something else…"

He leaned on his elbows, to face me properly, but this time his gaze was a lot more focused and considerably more intense.

"I have noticed you keep trying to make sense of me." He pointed out, making me blush a little and the dark in him slipped out, becoming a bit more noticeable on his lips. "I too am trying to make sense of you." He confessed unexpectedly. "Humans are very simple creatures, quite easy to understand at most times… but you are a weird kind of puzzle, Aydan. The pieces are strangely shaped and don't seem to fit into each other the way it normally does. This has been quite tricky to solve and I find myself awfully stumped all the time." He told me, a hint of curiosity covering his words layered with a bit of frustration underneath as well. "This is certainly the most intrigued I have been over something in ages… Such a strange case you are turning out to be."

"Not strange at all," I said, moving to sit, since laying down to gaze at the sky seemed to have lost interest for the both of us. "You've already figured it out, Erebus. There's no mystery to solve here, no puzzle to piece together. This is what I really am… something weird that doesn't fit well anywhere." I said with an uncaring shrug.

That revelation certainly rang true to my ears. I've always felt so different and out of place, like I didn't belong anywhere… Maybe that was why I enjoyed his company so much, or why I felt so comfortable around him. He was as different and strange as it could get, something I could definitely relate to.

Despite the strange likeness he and I shared, I had to constantly remind myself that he could not be more different from me. He was not human to begin with. I didn't even know what he was…

What could be said about me then, when this alien creature made of darkness and shadows would think I was weird and wrong-shaped?

"Please, forgive me," Erebus said, leaving his bathing completely aside as he sat upright to face me. His inky black hair fell over his eyes and he brushed it softly out of the way, so he could look at me fully. "I did not mean to offend, Aydan."

"I'm not offended," I said, smiling at him.

"But you are hurt. The joy in your eyes has become dim and waverly." He countered, upset. "You hear judgment in what I said, but there's no ill meaning behind my words. What I think of you is not inherently good or bad, you are what you are." He tried to explain himself. "Perhaps I worded my thoughts badly. Perhaps that was not the right way to describe you…" He fumbled for a second and stalled, unable to come up with something better to say right on the spot.

"It's okay, Erebus. There's no need to find any other word for me. I think 'strange' is quite an accurate one, to be fair."

He tusked at me, an irritated frown marking his forehead, showing how displeased he felt about the wrong turn that the conversation had taken.

"I am often at a loss for words, whenever I think of you," he confessed in a quiet voice, peeking at me under long dark eyelashes. "It is as if reason abandons me entirely when you are occupying my thoughts." he continued, eyes narrowing in stubborn frustration. "And even when I do find words to describe you, they all seem… insufficient. Not any of them seem enough to encompass all that you are."

He hunched down his shoulders and let out a deep sigh. "Perhaps I have been looking at it the wrong way. It is not within reason that I will find an answer. I must look for other ways."

He stood up abruptly, summoning his dark mantle into existence from the shadows around us, before taking a flourishing bow and leaving me with a polite farewell and the hope to see me again soon with a better answer.